Loss prevention continues to be an issue facing retailers. Many contemporary systems have been employed to deter or entirely prevent retail theft. For example, certain items of merchandise may be secured in a locked cabinet. Access to the locked cabinet is typically restricted to store employees. As a result, when a consumer wants to inspect the goods in the cabinet, they must locate a store employee, and the employee must retrieve the goods from the cabinet.
Unfortunately, many potential customers who desire to inspect a locked away item prior to purchase grow impatient waiting for an employee to retrieve it from the locked cabinet. As a result, costumers often times abandon their decision to purchase a locked away item because they grow tired of waiting for someone to retrieve it.
One solution to this problem is the retractable tether. Retractable tethers are often affixed to merchandise such as cameras or other small electronics. In design, the retractable tether includes a base unit that has a spool with a cable on “tether” wound thereabout. An end of the tether is affixed to the merchandise. A customer can handle the merchandise, and as this handling occurs, the tether will unwind to permit movement of the merchandise in proximity to the base unit. However, the merchandise may only be moved away from the base unit up to the maximum unwound length of the tether. As the customer moves the merchandise back toward the base unit, the tether is automatically retracted by the spool in the base unit to maintain the tether in a neat and orderly fashion.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned tethering devices, while allowing the customer to handle merchandise, are prone to retail theft. More specifically, it has been found that thieves simply cut the tether, and remove the electronic device from the store.
Due to these above deficiencies, there is a need in the art for a retractable retail merchandise tether that allows a customer to handle merchandise affixed to the tether, but will also deter severing of the tether by way of an alarm system or configuration.
The invention provides such a tethering device. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.